Here I am with my dog, Chattanooga Chief. This was taken in our backyard in Austin in the late 1980s. Chat was named after Jimmy Martin's version of Tom T. Hall's song, "Chattanooga Dog." Chat was my dear friend. He and Honeybee had six puppies together. I put them in a swimming pool with a blanket and laid them out in the sun on a clear October day. Later I heard this terrible commotion and looked out the window, and Chat was bounding up into the air (not easy for a basset hound) and fighting off a hawk which was trying to carry the puppies away. I ran outside and brought the swimming pool-full of puppies up on the porch, all safe thanks to Chat.

He was a mighty, mighty dog.